Monday, June 01, 2015

Ford's patent gambit in electric vehicle technology

Ford is opening up its electric vehicle patents for licensing (not giving the technology for free). Not a big deal.
The Christian Science Monitor "explains" why in the article:

Ford shares electric car technology with rival automakers. Why?

Ford is following Tesla Motors' and BMW's footsteps in sharing its electric car technology with automakers. What does Ford gain from sharing its portfolio of patents?

(...)

Consider this: the EPA has set some pretty lofty fuel economy and emissions goals for the auto industry to meet within the next 10 years. Hybrid and fully electric cars can play a big role in meeting those targets, as they already produce fewer emissions than their gas-powered siblings and they're becoming increasingly comparable in terms of range. Unfortunately, hybrid and electric vehicle sales only make up a tiny, tiny percentage of the global market. That's not because automakers can't keep up with demand, it's because consumers haven't warmed up to these high-tech rides. Why not?

Hybrids and EVs are still more expensive than vehicles that run on gas alone -- sometimes vastly more expensive, even after federal and state tax credits.
Fuel economy of gas-powered vehicles is increasing, slowly but surely, and it's a technology that people feel comfortable with.
Gas is cheap for now (even though many understand that prices will rise in the future), giving consumers fewer reasons to switch to hybrids and EVs.
The charging infrastructure for electrified vehicles isn't robust enough for many consumers' tastes, leaving them with range anxiety.

In other words, the auto industry needs to make electric cars to meet federal regulations, but few consumers are excited about buying them. By opening up its patents, Ford hopes to give its rivals the tools to build better electric vehicles -- the end result being that automakers around the globe will build more attractive, affordable EVs so that consumers begin buying them like hotcakes. Otherwise, Ford and other innovators could end up doing the right thing (in the EPA's eyes, anyway), but get shafted on the sales floor by reluctant consumers.

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About Me

I'm a patent lawyer located in central New Jersey. I have a J.D. from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. from Stanford University, where I studied graphite intercalation compounds at the Center for Materials Research. I worked at Exxon Corporate Research in areas ranging from engine deposits through coal and petroleum to fullerenes. An article that I wrote in The Trademark Reporter, 1994, 84, 379-407 on color trademarks was cited by Supreme Court in Qualitex v. Jacobson, 514 US 159 (1995) and the methodology was adopted
in the Capri case in N.D. Ill. An article that I wrote on DNA profiling was cited by the Colorado Supreme Court (Shreck case) and a Florida appellate court (Brim case). I was interviewed by NHK-TV about the Jan-Hendrik Schon affair. I am developing ipABC, an entity that combines rigorous IP analytics with study of business models, to optimize utilization of intellectual property. I can be reached at C8AsF5 at yahoo.com.